[1013] Quick CTF Tower

Obviously this isn't how it really looks in actual matches... The real game is so fast-paced I keep forgetting to take a screenshot. Gist of the the is to build something with permanent stopping power (and able to house a ballista) before the end of the building round, and its size, durability, and smaller characteristics depends heavily on if and how other builders chip in. Sometimes the backwall behind will be covered in stone instead (I don't have enough materials building round to do that myself though), and occasionally someone will build a tunnel on top. Eventually later on in the match, if it proves necessary, I'd place some stone underneath. Usually though I find a bedrock line to lay the tower on.

After I build this, as well as the station of two other shops, I grab a drill and rush as a knight. This only took me two minutes to make in sandbox, but sandbox really isn't indicative of how it performs in a real match. With any reasonable build time I can walk between the spawn and the tower for more materials as necessary.

Here are the typical stages of my resource usage:
Stage 1: 300 wood, 100 stone.
-200 wood, build two shop buildings near spawn
-40 stone, build 4 stone blocks vertically
-50 stone, build 1 stone door on top
-5 wood (now 95 wood), build temporary backwall above door
-10 stone (now 0 stone) build 1 stone block on top
-40 wood (now 55 wood), build 4 wood blocks behind stone blocks
I use the rest of my 55 wood for a few ladders and backwall, then I haul ass back to spawn

Stage 2: 300 wood, 100 stone
-100 wood (now 200), finish making ladder
-50 stone (now 50), make a second door
-50 stone (now 0 stone), build some stone blocks above to get necessary height
-5o wood (now 150 wood), build some wood blocks behind those for width
Here I find myself with a bunch of wood for no purpose, but no stone, and a lot of time until my next resource-get.
I sometimes build another shop (usually bakery since that's often neglected), or sometimes I spam wooden backwall, making (now 0 wood)

Stage 3: 300 wood, 100 stone
- about 100 stone, make the tower a bit higher and make a 5 block width crow's nest
-100 wood, build backwall for nest etc
Even though I have wood for more, I'm running out of build-time, so I haul ass, get or mine some stone, get a drill, and go knight. Depending on how much help I received, I can skip a stage and rush as soon as the barrier comes down, or end up about 15 seconds late. (Which is good, because with a drill I have to come up behind pushes to destroy stone walls, taking care not to die)

Anyway, I'd like some helpful criticism (or sweet ego-stroking praise). There are some things I don't have much experience in and just ignore, like building tunnels or saw-traps. If I'm lucky some other builder will handle those.

EDIT: I was able to get some real match screenshots:


EDIT2: Experience has been my teacher, kegs are particularly effective. How do you make a keg-proof tower with minimal cost?

 

No tower is keg proof, but the best way to prevent most keg attacks is to simply keep doors as high as possible, and dig a moat in front of the tower to catch the kegs to explode in dirt (the blast isn't very effective on dirt).

Downward facing platforms will prevent them gliding up the wall.

 

My tips for building a somewhat keg-proof and useful tower would look like this:

1. Build always only one layer of outer wall. Walls tend to get chipped by archer bomb arrows or normal knight bombs.
When this happens if you have two layers, this may result in providing enemy knights potential balconies to climb/or bomb your tower. It also makes a repairing builder's job harder because you can not repair from the back of your tower and need to go out to refill that balcony.

2. Your tower is relatively thin and I think one keg blast could potentially take it down. I usually use patches of backwall to make it thicker against kegs.

3. Also bedrock absorbs the keg blasts and there is a high chance that the kegs wont do much damage if they explode close to the bedrock. Try to build your tower on top of bedrock, leaving a patch open. Or, dig until you see bedrock. Putting downward facing wooden platforms is also a great idea such that it prevents knights from gliding up the tower with kegs, thus escaping the bedrock.

So imho, this is how it should look basically:
(It should definitely be built higher though, this is quite easy to bomb jump. But you get the point )

EDIT: I just saw today that if an enemy throws a lit keg at the trap block platform in front of the tower, it stays there and does not fall down. Pretty dangerous! In that case building the platform one block lower, such that there still exists some bedrock even if the keg is on it, is a better idea!

 

Yeah I like what I see. good point about the one thick, but it only takes one bomb arrow get through and a builder is going to get through it awfully fast. I feel like this would make a better forward tower than flag tower. I'm a sucker for having big wide bases. building on bed rock is very effective.

 

The real trick to an invincible forward tower that kegs can't hurt is building on bedrock.

 

some criticism:

• dont use ladders. they are awfully slow to climb. also 1 bombjumper and your ladders are gone, making you unable to access the top. instead lean the tower to the front. this has many benefits: allows super-fast climbing on your side and thwarts any attempts to glide up the wall on enemy side. this eliminates the need to build overhang, since whole tower is one big overhang. it also makes the tower hard to convert to enemy side
• what is the point of that stone blocks behind platforms? it would be a good archer spot if you removed them, making those useless archers a tiny bit less useless
• building stone backwall on platforms prevents them from collapsing when fire destroys one of them. if you are very lucky this may minimise damages to 1 platform per 1 fire arrow
• also adding backwall like that on crackwise's tower makes your tower more resistant to collapsing, and doesnt cost much. you can use mostly wooden backwall, since there is no way to ignite backwall if there are no adjacent solid blocks